TY - JOUR N1 - The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com ID - epprod3810 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-006-0575-y IS - 4 A1 - Leporati, S A1 - Pecl, GT A1 - Semmens, JM Y1 - 2000/// N2 - Temperature is known to have a strong influence on cephalopod growth during the early exponential growth phase. Most captive growth studies have used constant temperature regimes and assumed that populations are composed of identically sized individuals at hatching, overlooking the effects of seasonal temperature variation and individual hatchling size heterogeneity. This study investigated the relative roles of initial hatchling size and simulated natural seasonal temperature regimes on the growth of 64 captive Octopus pallidus over a 4-month period. Initial weights were recorded, and daily food consumption and fortnightly growth monitored. Two temperature treatments were applied replicating local seasonal water temperatures: spring/summer (14?18C) and summer/autumn (18?14C). Overall octopuses in the spring/summer treatment grew at a rate of 1.42% bwd?1 (% body weight per day) compared to 1.72% bwd?1 in the summer/autumn treatment. Initial size influenced growth rate in the summer/autumn treatment with smaller octopuses (<0.25 g) growing faster at 1.82% bwd?1 compared to larger octopuses at 1.68% bwd?1. This was opposite to individuals in the spring/ summer treatment where smaller octopuses grew slower at 1.29% bwd?1 compared to larger octopuses at 1.60% bwd?1. Initial size influenced subsequent growth, however, this was dependent on feeding rate and appears to be secondary to the effects of temperature. PB - Springer JF - Marine Biology VL - 151 SN - 0025-3162 TI - Cephalopod hatchling growth: the effects of initial size and seasonal temperatures SP - 1375 AV - restricted EP - 1383 ER -